Rupert Murdoch sells most of his non-voting shares in News Corporation, still controls the company

Rupert Murdoch, who is currently immersed in the News of the World phone hacking scandal, has sold almost all of his non-voting shares in News Corporation. But according to the New York Times, because of dual-class voting shares, the 80-year-old still controls the company. The Times reports, “In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said that between Wednesday, Nov. 16, and Thursday, Nov. 17, Mr. Murdoch sold 3.63 million Class A nonvoting shares priced between $16.60 and $17.26, valued at roughly $62 million.” A person close to the company said Murdoch’s sell-off, which will not effect the family’s control of News Corporation, had to do with “estate planning.”